Valve.



Patented Oct. 7, |902.

P. E. GNN. VALVE.-

(Appncaeion med oct. 12, 1901.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL E. GONON, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO PERFECT NON- REFILLABLE BOTTLE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPO- RATION OF NEV JERSEY. i

VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent NO. 710,450, dated October 7, 1902.

Application filed October l2, 1901. Serial No. 78,432. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom, it Huey concern.-

Be it known that I, PAUL E. GONON, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing in New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valves; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description4V of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates generally to valves adapted to permit llow of fluid in one direction, but to close automatically, so as to prevent liow of fluid in the opposite direction; and more specilically my invention relates to valves Vand stoppers adapted to be located in the necks ot bottles and the like to prevent refilling, and embodies improvements upon a valve for that purpose, the invention of J. lV. Calef, illustrated and described in an application for Letters Patent iiled June l, 1900, Serial No. 18,694.

My invention consists in the novel form of the weight by which the valve is held closed when the bottle is in an inclined position, in the novel connection of said weight to the valve-plug, in the novel means employed for locking against removal a guard by which manipulation of the valve from the mouth'of the bottle is prevented, in the novel guide for the valve-plug, and in many other features of combination, construction, and arrangement, as hereinafter pointed out.

The objects of my invention are to prevent relling of a bottle or other receptacle by direct inflow of liquid in any position of theV bottle or by the use of suction, pressure, vibration, or manipulation of any sort, to render the valve sensitive in its action, to so design the valve that it may be constructed of glass or other suitable material which is unaiected by lluids to be used and may be simple and inexpensive in construction, to so construct the valve that it will permit ample flow of fluid from the bottle or other receptacle when the latter is inverted, to avoid sticking of the valve-plug at any point, to prevent removal of a guard employed for preventing access to and manipulation of the valve from the mouth of the bottle, and generally to make the device simple, reliable, and inexpensive.

I will now proceed to describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings and will then point out the novel features in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central vertical section of the upper portion of 'a bottle fitted with my improved valve, the parts being shown in the upright position. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the parts in an in-` clined position. Figisanothersimilarview showing the parts in the inverted position with the valve-plug raised as it will be when attempt is made to fill the bottle when the latter is inverted. Fig. 4 is a detail view of` the parts of the valve removed from the neck of the bottle. Fig. 5 shows a cross-section through the luted guide-ring. 6 is a detail top view illustrating the manner of holding in place the guard which prevents manipulation Vol" the valve; and Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. l, showing a slightly-different form of valve.

The form of valve shown in Figs. l to 6, inclusive, is provided with a valve-casing l, tubular in form, having at its upper enda seat for a valve-plug 2 and at its lower end an opening through which one end of a trippingweight 3 may project and having in its sides openings 4 for the Vpassage of Water and air. The said valve-casing is adapted to be secured in the neck of a bottle 5 or other receptacle bya ring 6, of cork or other suitable material, or the casing may be secured in the neck by any other suitable means. To facilitate securing the valve in the neck, the said casing may be provided with a liange 7 above the cork ring 6, Yand the neck of the bottle maybe provided with a fiange 8, against which the cork ring may rest; but these anges arenot essential and merely serve to hold the corkring in its preferred position with reference to the casing l and the neck of the bottle. AYbottle-neck tapered downward slightly, as is the neck shown in the drawings, will hold the ring 6 sufliciently without the flange.

The valve-plug 2 is a float and may be closed completely, as shown in Fig. 1, or may ICO have the form of a bell, as shown in Fig. 7. In either case it must have sucient size to enable it to float and lift the link 9 and rod 10, by which it is connected to the trippingweight 3, when liquid is introduced into the neck of the bottle with the latter in an inverted position before the liquid passes the valve-seat. It need not be of sufficient capacity to liftthe tripping-Weight 3 also, however, for a reason hereinafter stated, and the valve-plug and its connecting devices 9 and 10 may be made so light that a valve-plug of moderate size will float under the conditions named before the fluid reaches the valve-seat, and so will prevent entrance of fluid into the bottle.

A guide-ring 11, secured in the neck of the bottle in any suitable manner, serves to guide the valve-plug and hold the same in a substantially axial position. This ring is preferably fiuted, as shown, to reduce the surface of contact between it and the valve-plug and prevent sticking of the latter to said ring.

The connection of the link 9 to the valveplug 2 and the rod 10 is preferably by means of ball-and-socket joints 12, as shown in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive. Such joints are equally flexible in all directions, and when they are used it is impossible that there shall be a kink in the connections between the valveplug and the tripping-weight whereby the proper action of the valve may be prevented; but ball-and-socket joints are not necessary, and instead ordinary loop-joints may be used, as shown in Fig. 7.

The weight 3 is mounted on the rod 10 and is free to slide thereon, said rod having a head 13, which holds the weight upon the rod. The shape of the weight is important. As shown in the drawings, its upper portiont'. e., the portion nearest the valve-casing 1 is upwardly tapering and concavely curved. It is important that such upper portion of the weight shall taper upwardly, and the tapering produced by concaved curves, as shown, is preferable to straight lines. The advantage of this shape is that it permits a very considerable separation of the valveplug from its seat when the bottle is inverted to pour liquid from it, the weight slipping upon the edge of the valve-casing when the bottle is much inclined from the horizontal, its end entering the end ot the casing 1, as shown in Fig. 3; yet in this inverted position the weight bears against the side of the valvecasing in such manner that a very slight inclination of the bottle from the vertical overbalances the weight 3 and causes it to pull the valve-plug to its seat, as shown in. Fig. 2. The wide opening of the valve is important, as otherwise the flow from the bottle might be slow.

The weight 3 is connected to the valve-plug in such manner that when the weight acts to pull the valve-plug to its seat it acts in a substantially axial direction. Good seating of the valve is thereby insured.

The operation of this valve is as follows The bottle being full, if it be turned to a position such as shown in Fig. 2 the pressure of the iiuid above the valve will cause the same to open, permitting the fluid to tlow out and permitting air to enter to replace the fluid. When the bottle is empty, however, the weight 3, pivoting on the edge of the casing 1 as a fulcrum, will draw the valve to its seat, thus preventing the entrance of fluid. If the bottle be inclined still further into a vertical or nearly vertical position, such as shown in Fig. 3, the weight 3 will rest upon the end of the casing 1, the valve being open; but with the parts in this position if attempt be made to introduce liquid into the bottle, either by the use of pressure or suction, as the liquid rises in the neck of the bottle it will Heat the valve 3, with the link 9 and rod 10, so that the valve-plug reaches its seat and prevents the entrance of fluid into the bottle. In so rising the valveplug does not lift the weight 3, because the looseness of the connections between the valve-plug and rod 10 and the loose motiliting of weight 3 on rod 10 permit the closing of the valve by flotation of the valve-plug without moving the weight. Therefore the use of a float-valve of practical size is possible. A zigzag guard 14 prevents manipulation of the valve by a wire or other instrument inserted through the mouth of the bottle. The casing 1 projects above the cork ring 4 sufficiently so that if sand or other pulverulent substance be introduced into the bottle with the object of preventing the valve from seating perfectly such sand or substance will fall upon the outside of the casing 1.

The means employed for securing the guard in place in the neck of the bottle forms an important feature of my invention. In the sides of the guard are grooves 15, terminating at their lower ends in recesses 16. In the neck of the bottle is a groove 17. Rods 18, having half-heads 19, lie in the grooves 15. When the guard is to be inserted in the neck of the bottle, the rods 1S, then forming portions of longer rods, are laid in the grooves 15, their heads lying within the recesses 16. The guard is then inserted and pushed down until the recesses 16 are opposite the groove 17, and then the rods 18 are turned until their half-heads 19 are locked in said grooves, and said rods are broken off well below the top of the guard 14, having previously been nicked or otherwise weakened at the proper point to facilitate breaking them. These rods are broken so far down that they cannot be manipulated by a tool, and their heads may be wedged tightly into the groove 17, so that said rods cannot be shaken loose. They effectually prevent removal of the guard 14.

The valve-plug need not be ground into its seat in the end of the valve-casing 1. Its shape is such that when it is in close proximity to its seat a film of liquid between it and its seat will prevent the passage of liquid.

IOO

IIO

In the form of valve shown in Fig. 7 the fluted guide-ring there numbered 1" is integal with the valve-casing l. In other respects the construction of the valve is substantially the same as the valve shown in Figs. l to 6, inclusive, except for the minor difterences already noted equally applicable to the construction shown in Figs. l to (j, inclusive.

It is obvious that the valve herein described is applicable to many other uses than that herein described, and I do not limit it to use for preventing the refilling of bottles and the like. It is also obvious that the said valve is capable of many modifications in construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and I do not limit myself to the particular construction herein illustrated and described.

The iiow of liquid from a bottle fitted with my valve may be varied by varying the taper or curvature of the upper portion of the tripping-weight. The more acute the taper the greater the flow.

Having thus completely described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a valve the combination with a liollow valve -casing, of a iioat-valve to seat against one end of the casing, a trippingweight to engage the other end of the casing when the bottle is inverted, a rod connected to said valve, and slidably connected to said weight whereby said valve will be permitted to seat, by flotation, upon its end of the casing, when the said casing is inverted and the weight is supported by the opposite end ot the casing, said rod jointed intermediate the valve and weight, such joint permitting a swinging movement of the parts of the rod in all directions but preventing relative longitudinal movement of such parts, whereby the weight may engage the valve-casing in inclined and inverted positions of the latter.

2. In a valve, the combination with a hollow valve-casing, of a valve to seat against one end of the casing,a tripping-weighthaving a concave bearing-surface to engage the other end of the casing, and a jointed rod having a sliding connection with the tripping-Weight and connected to the valve to move the latter in both directions, said rod acting to maintain the said concave bearing-surface in engagement with the end ot the valve-casing and permit a sliding pivotal movement between the Weight and casing.

3. In a valve, the combination with a hollow valve-casing, of a valve to seat against one end ot' the casing, atripping-weight having a concave bearing-surface to engage the other end of the casing, and a jointed connection between the valve and the Weight to maintain the concave bearing-surface in engagement with the end of the valve-casing and permit a sliding pivotal movement between the weight and casing.

4. The combination, with a device adapted to be inserted into and secured in the neck of a bottle or other receptacle, having a side groove and a recess adapted to receive the head of a locking-key, of a locking-key adapted to lie within said groove, and having a head projecting to one side, said head being adapted to lie within said recess and when in such position to permit the insertion of the device into the neck of the bottle or receptacle, and then, upon rotation of said key, to enter a groove in the neck of the bottle or receptacle and prevent withdrawal of the device therefrom.

5. The combination, with a bottle or receptacle having an internally-grooved mouth or oriiice, ot' a device adapted to be inserted into and secured in said orice, having a longitudinal side groove and a recess adapted to receive the head of a locking-key, and a locking-key adapted to lie Within said groove and having a head adapted to lie in either said recess or in the groove in the receptacle and in the former position to permit insertion of the device into said orifice.

In testimony whereof I aftix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

PAUL E. GONON.

Witnesses:

R. B. FLOYD JoNEs, J. W. CALEF. 

